Debates of Sept. 17th, 2024

Foreign Affairs

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation]

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2), and consistent with the policy on the tabling of treaties in Parliament, I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the treaty entitled “Agreement between Canada, of the one part, and the European Union, of the other part, on the Participation of Canada in Union Programmes”, which includes the “Protocol on the Association of Canada to Horizon Europe - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027)”, done at Montreal on July 3.

Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics

[John Brassard, Conservative, Barrie—Innisfil, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, entitled “Failure to Respond to an Order of the Committee”.

Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

[Peter Schiefke, Liberal, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 18th report of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities entitled “Issues and Opportunities: High Frequency Rail in the Toronto to Quebec City Corridor”.

Pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee requests that the government table a comprehensive response to this report.

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to respond on behalf of my common-sense Conservative colleagues on the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities with our supplementary report. We too thank the staff, the analysts, the clerk and the committee chair.

In the motion that gave rise to this study, we were specifically asked to look at high-speed rail proposals in Alberta, but that was not done in the course of this study. In fact, there was no real consequential study or recommendations outside the Toronto to Quebec City corridor. Therefore, we recommend that this be tackled in the future.

Our second concern is that, while we are pleased that the Conservative motions to ensure transparency on the costs and to protect taxpayers from cost overruns were adopted, we are still concerned because many of the aspects and costs of this project remain undefined. We table the supplementary report.

Public Accounts

[John Williamson, Conservative, New Brunswick Southwest, NB]

Madam Speaker, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the following two reports of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

The 42nd report is entitled “Report 6, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, of the 2024 Reports 5 to 7 of the Auditor General of Canada”. Specifically, it was passed in the committee that we report it to the House; it asks the Auditor General to undertake a value-for-money and performance audit of the work done by SDTC since Monday, January 1, 2017.

The 43rd report is entitled “Report 6, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, of the 2024 Reports 5 to 7 of the Auditor General of Canada”. Specifically, the committee expressed extreme concern with the blatant disregard for taxpayer funds. Therefore, it calls on the Government of Canada to recoup these funds for Canadian taxpayers, following the adoption of this motion that the committee report this matter to the House.

Alleged Failure of Government to Produce Documents

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order.

Before my colleague rises to speak, I wanted to respond to a question of privilege raised by the member for Regina—Qu'Appelle yesterday. Our spot to intervene was reserved by the member for New Westminster—Burnaby, who identified that we would like to reply.

I want to say that the matter of privilege follows from a House order made in June to ensure that the documents related to SDTC be compiled and provided to the RCMP to ensure that they have access to all information on this issue. Canadians deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent and, specifically, how those dollars were awarded to SDTC.

As I said at the time, New Democrats believe that this is broader than just the SDTC issue. For decades, Liberals and Conservatives have appointed friends to positions of power to be rewarded with taxpayers' dollars. We saw that yesterday at testimony, where both Liberals and Conservatives competed in a challenge over who was more corrupt versus the other. That happened just yesterday, if we want to watch the tapes. It was actually at the industry committee. This is just the latest example.

For that reason, we supported the motion in June to order these documents for clarity. In fact, New Democrats have been calling for more information to be released through reform of our system internally. This has yet to be done by either the Liberals or the Conservatives. It is actually borne through legislation of Crown copyright that goes back to 1909 and has yet to be reformed.

As outlined by the Conservative House leader, responses to this order have been inconsistent. While we appreciate the unusual nature of this order, the House indeed ordered the documents. As such, it is up to the House to decide whether it is satisfied by the nature of the response. I would be remiss if I did not point out that there is an element of hypocrisy again in this, as the Conservatives were not consistent on this issue when they were in government. In fact, I have sat in this chamber many times when they did not do what they are now requesting.

As such, we want to make sure the documents are actually released and are provided to all of Parliament. More importantly, New Democrats support that process because it only sheds light on the hypocrisy of the Conservatives now requesting what they often have denied in their past practices in this chamber.

Government Operations and Estimates

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, I move that the 13th report of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, presented on Friday, February 16, be concurred in.

I will be sharing my time with my good friend, the hon. member for Mégantic—L'Érable.

I want to quickly jog the House's memory about the 13th report from the Standing Committee on Government Operations and what I believe is so important that we discuss today. However, before I give the details of that report, I want to provide a bit of context about what the situation is in Canada today.

This summer, Statistics Canada released just devastating numbers about what we can expect this fall for food bank usage. One in four Canadians is going to be relying on food banks to feed themselves and their families. That is 25%. What is so interesting and truly heartbreaking about this is that we do not have a 25% unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is about 6% in this region; we know that it is high among new Canadians and students, at about 12%. The reason I bring this up is that, with 25% of people using food banks, it means that we have people who are working one and two jobs but are still not able to feed themselves and their families.

In my community, the Brockville and Area Food Bank, the South Grenville Food Bank and the Gananoque and Area Food Bank have seen their use double, and this is the trend across the country. Canadians are struggling. We have food banks extending their hours to be able to serve people when they get off their shift, before they go into their next job. With this as the backdrop, let us take a look at what the government prioritized.

We uncovered, through the work of common-sense Conservatives, the grift and corruption that has festered after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government. We saw a very public case of that with the arrive scam and GC Strategies. Here, these two grifters working out of a basement were taking 30% of multi-million dollar contracts and adding no value for Canadians. Now, this report was done on the request to the AG to conduct a performance audit, and this came out of the GC Strategies scandal, the NDP-Liberal government's arrive scam. It is devastating for Canadians to see that.

The government makes all kinds of claims about being compassionate or wanting to help Canadians. The Canadians they are helping are Liberal insiders. They are the elite, making millions of dollars. What I think is shocking to Main Street Canadians is that, when this was uncovered, the Liberal government did not say, “Oh my goodness, we are so surprised. We agree, and we want to get to the bottom of this so that we can ensure it never happens again.”

The member for Carleton, the leader of His Majesty's loyal opposition, put forward a motion almost two years ago to have the Auditor General investigate. However, what did the Prime Minister do? He voted against. What did his cabinet do? It voted against. What did all the Liberal members do? They voted against having the Auditor General get to the bottom of this $60-million arrive scam.

The Liberals like to talk about this app. We have famously heard that it saved lives. However, it also put 10,000 people under house arrest because of a glitch.

If the Liberals had spent some money credibly developing a product that Canadians knew they needed and knew worked well, which did not send 10,000 people into house arrest, they might have had a little goodwill, but the app was broken. Canada Border Services Agency frontline officers said that the government took resources away from them and that they were not consulted on it. The experts, the boots in the boxes at our border, told us they did not want it as it impeded them from doing their job of keeping Canadians safe.

However, the government knew better. Why did it insist on the $60-million boondoggle if frontline border service officers said they did not need it? It was because its buddies were getting paid. Liberal insiders were lining their pockets. Remember the Canadians lining up at food banks.

This is an incredibly important issue. It is emblematic of nine years of the NDP-Liberal government. This is what happens when you have a Prime Minister twice found guilty of breaking the law. It has never happened in this country before. That is the standard from the top down that we have seen under the Prime Minister, so it is no surprise that Canadians are calling for action. Canadians are speaking out. Canadians are expressing their disapproval of the government.

Conservatives, in response to those calls, have said that we want to have a carbon tax election. We want to give Canadians the choice between an out-of-touch government that rewards its friends and raises taxes on Canadians when they can least afford it, or the common-sense Conservatives who will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.

It was a pleasure yesterday to welcome in our new colleague, the member for Toronto—St. Paul's. There is a message in that for the Prime Minister as well. We need to have that carbon tax election. That is going to be up to the Conservatives. We have said we are going to put forth a motion of non-confidence in the government at the first available opportunity. It is going to be up to the NDP and the Bloc to make a decision on whether they stand with a government that rewards insiders or stand up for Canadians who are working hard taking care of their neighbours, just desperately trying to provide for their families and have a better life.

That was the promise in this country, that if we worked hard, we would be able to have a good life and afford a home. We always thought that as Canadians we would be able to welcome people into our country, that we would be able to work together, that we would be able to afford homes and we would be able to do better than the generation before us. Nine years of the NDP-Liberal government has broken the immigration system. The government is bringing people here under false pretenses, telling them there is going to be a home and a doctor for them. There is neither of those things, nor are there jobs.

This is why we need to keep doing the important work of exposing the economic vandalism, the vandalism to trust in our democratic institutions that has happened after nine years of the NDP-Liberal government and the Prime Minister. We will keep doing that every single day until we have the election, because that is what Canadians are counting on. That is what I heard from the thousands of Canadians I talked to this summer, and I know that is what my colleagues heard.

It is important that we have this conversation, this debate, about this important subject today. I look very forward to the comments from my hon. colleague, the member for Mégantic—L'Érable, because his community, the residents of his province, are suffering terribly. He knows that. He was connecting with them this summer. I look forward to his perspective as well, because Canadians deserve better than a corrupt NDP-Liberal government, and common-sense Conservatives are going to bring home real change.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Madam Speaker, in the introduction of his speech, the member said that the current government is not interested in helping Canadians. Over the summer, I met an individual named George. George ran up to me with his brand new Canada dental care plan card, showing it so proudly to me and pointing to his two missing top front teeth and saying he could get his teeth fixed now because of the plan. George probably did not even really understand, or care for that matter, who was responsible for the plan or how it got there, but he knew that he could finally get his teeth fixed after years of not being able to do so because he could not afford to, as he told me.

I want to know whether my neighbouring colleague can tell George whether he can still expect to be able to rely on a dental care program if Conservatives form government. Every Conservative asked that to this point has evaded answering the question. Will the member tell George that he can rely on that program or not, if Conservatives are elected?

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, there have been nine years of an NDP-Liberal government with multiple cabinet ministers. The Liberal member heckling, the one who just asked the question, voted against the Auditor General investigations into the scandals perpetrated under the Prime Minister. It is a shocking failure of the Liberals' responsibility to Canadians, their fiduciary and moral responsibility to uphold the trust the Canadians put in us when we come here.

Let us get to it. Let us talk about the Liberals' failure to protect Canadians from the corruption of the Prime Minister.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for his speech. Here is the problem I have with his speech: I get his point, but the miserable situation he described with such over-the-top zeal made me think he was talking about Kazakhstan, only worse.

I would like the member to tell me where in Canada one might witness the vision he painted today.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, the vision that I paint about what happens in Canada is evidenced on the streets in communities across this country, in every province including Quebec, where people are lined up at food banks and there are tent cities, devastating destruction, despair and even death. This was not something that happened before the destructive policies of the NDP-Liberal government, and Conservatives are going to fix it.

I am very hopeful for what our country has in store, because it is built on such a strong foundation. The Liberals have not been able to destroy it in nine years. Life was not like this before the Prime Minister and is not going to be like it after him.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Madam Speaker, whenever the Conservatives talk about fiscal responsibility, all we hear from other parties is that Conservatives are going to cut, when really it is just their not admitting that they do not care about the future of the financial stability of our country at all. They do not want to balance the budget. They do not care how much they are burdening future generations.

I ask the member where a Conservative government would find savings. It is really important that Canadians understand that Conservatives will take the financial responsibility of this country very seriously, so I would like to hear the member's remarks about where he thinks we can save taxpayers some of their hard-earned money.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Madam Speaker, it is a real pleasure having the member for Kildonan—St. Paul back in the House. It is really great to see her here.

We talk about what Conservatives are going to cut. We are going to cut the Liberals' $60-million arrive scam. We are going to cut their billion-dollar slush fund. We are going to cut all of the waste that we keep exposing. This weekend, they committed $2.14 billion to a company. Who is someone who has a real strong interest in that? Mark “carbon tax” Carney has a big interest in that company.

Instead of providing Canadians who need it with high-speed Internet, for example, by the end of this year, they are going to take a decade more to not get it done, but they are going to make sure Mark “carbon tax” Carney gets rich while Canadians suffer.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his excellent speech and for the opportunity he is giving us today to examine the Liberal government's incompetence and inability to govern the affairs of the state and of all Canadians. The motion before us reads as follows:

That, in light of new reports that GC Strategies and other companies incorporated by the cofounders have received millions of dollars in government contracts, including a number of sole-sourced contracts, the committee request the Auditor General of Canada to conduct a performance audit, on a priority basis, of all payments to GC Strategies, and other companies incorporated by the cofounders....

It is very technical, but that is important because, sometimes, if one does not ask the right question, one does not get all the answers. Now, thanks to my colleague's motion, we will be able to get the answers, but only if we have the support of enough MPs to proceed.

I will keep reading:

...and all contracts with the Government of Canada, including all departments, agencies and Crown corporations, including all subcontracts which GC Strategies and the before mentioned have been awarded under those contracts and that the committee report this request and these findings to the House.

With hundreds of thousands of Canadians lining up at food banks after nine years of this Liberal government's inflationary policies and inflationary spending that has doubled the cost of housing and food since 2015, Canadians and Quebeckers might expect the government to manage their money efficiently.

Unfortunately, as we saw in the case of GC Strategies and the Liberal green fund, or the “green slush fund” as many now call it, and as we saw in the case of the $21 billion in subcontracts awarded to outside consultants, the Liberal government sees its responsibility to Canadians and to government finances as a mere triviality. However, it is no trivial matter for Canadians who are unable to make ends meet at the end of the month. It is no trivial matter for families who cannot afford groceries and who are forced to make hard choices to feed their children or forced to decide between driving themselves to work or the kids to school. That is the new reality now, after nine years of this Prime Minister.

The GC Strategies case illustrates the way this Liberal government operates, which, I would remind everyone, has caused Canadians to lose all confidence in this Prime Minister's ability to control both himself and the affairs of state. The example is being set from the top, and that is the problem. When the example is set from the top, when we have a Prime Minister who has twice been found guilty of ethics violations and his sole explanation and response to the Canadian public is that he takes full responsibility for his actions, yet he faces no financial penalty and no consequences other than having to utter that statement in the House, what sort of message does that send to the rest of the government, to all the deputy ministers, to all the people whose job it is to manage the public purse? It sends the message that they can cross the line and there will be no consequences.

That, unfortunately, is what happened in the case of GC Strategies. I would remind members that the ArriveCAN app should have cost $80,000 but ended up costing $60 million. From $80,000 to $60 million: what a perfect illustration of the indolence this Liberal Prime Minister has infused into the workings of government since he was first elected nine years ago.

Let us consider the situation as a whole. I too was out and about in my riding. Over the summer, I met with hundreds, if not thousands, of residents, and every one of them told me they struggle to pay their bills at the end of the month and asked me how things got to this point. There was GC Strategies, the use of consultants, the Liberal green fund and the $500 billion in inflationary spending supported by the Bloc Québécois. This spending inflated the economy, made more and more public funds available and drove up costs across the board. That is what happened. Unfortunately, I hear people laughing, but this is no laughing matter. There is nothing funny about people struggling to understand why they can no longer pay their bills when they used to be able to a few years ago. There is nothing funny about people getting their paycheque and discovering there is less and less money left over to pay their bills at the end of the month.

This government, which has been propped up by the Bloc Québécois in recent years, has made things harder for people, even in Quebec. I am not referring to the wealthy or those receiving billions of dollars in contracts from this Liberal government. I am not referring to bankers or those who make money off of other people's money. I am referring to people who have to work hard in a factory, school or hospital. These are the people who are finding it harder to cope. These are the people we need to work for. These are the people we are here for, and it is for their sake that the Conservatives intend to introduce a common-sense plan to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.

I hear my Bloc colleagues saying “yeah right”. It seems they could not care less about what is going on. What I just heard is insulting. Needless to say, they have no clue what is going on. For them, there are no tent cities in Montreal and no spike in violent crime happening in Montreal and in regions across Quebec. Those things simply do not exist. The Bloc Québécois seems to be ignorant of Quebeckers' current realities. The Bloc will try to downplay the gravity of the situation because they want to keep propping up the Liberal government. They need to downplay the damage the Liberals have done over the past nine years so they can justify their support for this Liberal government.

Given the comments I just heard, I cannot get over the way these people claim to stand up for Quebeckers' interests when they cannot even recognize that all Quebeckers are suffering after nine years under this Liberal government. I listened to the speeches that the Prime Minister and the ministers gave right before the House returned. They said that they would keep on doing what they are doing, that they would stay on course, but staying on course means even more street crime. It means more and more Quebeckers having to rely on food banks at the end of the month. It means fewer and fewer young families being able to afford a home. Fewer and fewer young families will be able to have a home, and fewer and fewer families will have access to housing, period. That is what will happen if the Liberal government stays on course, and that is what the Bloc Québécois wants.

Standing up for Quebeckers' interests means making it possible for them to own a home, access housing, put food on the table at the end of the month and have bigger paycheques that enable them to make the right choices for their family. That would serve all Quebeckers' interests, not just the interests of Bloc Québécois supporters. That is why we are going to fight for the interests of all Quebeckers. That is why it is important to get to the bottom of the scandals in which this government is embroiled. That is why it is important that the Bloc Québécois and the NDP support us when it comes time to denounce the government and vote for a non-confidence motion against it so that voters can finally elect a common-sense government.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, there is no surprise that the Conservatives have used day two as a way to prevent debate on legislation. We have seen this consistently over the years, and I will expand on that during my comments.

Today, we were supposed to be debating the Citizenship Act. It would have been day two of the debate. It was in anticipation that, hopefully, the Conservatives would join the Bloc, the NDP and the government in recognizing the importance of the legislation.

Does the Conservative Party have any intention of looking at legislation and making some suggestions with respect to the legislative agenda items it would like to see passed, or is it purely going to filibuster from this day forward?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, divide and distract is the Liberals' mantra. While I am talking about problems that affect all Quebeckers and all Canadians, namely the ability to put food on the table, find a place to live and pay rent, the only thing the Liberals and the government want to do is change the subject and pretend that these problems do not exist in Canada or Quebec.

We need to shine a light on this Liberal government's corruption. We need to shine a light on this Liberal government's ineptitude and incompetence, and we need to do so in collaboration with every party in the House. We need to do it in collaboration with the NDP and the Bloc Québécois, who must vote in favour of a non-confidence motion to stop the Liberals from continuing with business as usual.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Madam Speaker, that is a bit ironic.

First of all, let me offer a correction. The French word for “support” is “soutenir”, not “supporter”. It is obvious that my colleague works a lot in English. I will reassure him right away that that is not what we are doing. Our job is not to support the Liberals or to replace them with Conservatives. Our job is to work for Quebeckers and defend their interests, and despite all the disinformation my colleague spread, we agree 200% with the basic facts, namely that people are having a hard time making ends meet and that we need to do something about it.

That is why, rather than trying to usurp power, we decided to focus on one priority, which is to increase old age security as of age 65. Strangely enough, ever since the new Conservative leader took over, we have not heard any more commitments from the Conservatives on this subject. I think that, as deputy leader, my colleague should be able to make a formal commitment.

I would like him to give me a real answer, not just accuse me of changing the subject. Can we work together on old age security? Can we get this done quickly? Can we also get a guarantee that a Conservative government will not make cuts the day after the election?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, my colleague wants a real answer. Here is one that is simple and straightforward. We voted in favour of the Bloc Québécois bill on this matter. We voted in favour of it. To suggest otherwise would be false. Unfortunately, apart from claiming that I said things that were inaccurate, he could not identify a single one.

On the contrary, all I said in my speech was that the Bloc Québécois has supported $500 billion in inflationary spending by this government. That is true; those are the figures, and everyone can see them. The Bloc Québécois does not want to commit to defeating this government at the earliest opportunity. That is also true. Quebeckers are struggling. Groceries are expensive. Housing prices have doubled. They increasingly cannot make ends meet. It is getting harder and harder for families to buy their first home. That is all true.

Unfortunately, Bloc Québécois members do not seem to want to talk much about the problems, because they want this Liberal government to stick around a while longer. I do not think that is the best solution for Quebeckers.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Madam Speaker, with respect to affordability, his party brought in the GST. Later, under Stephen Harper, it brought in the HST, bribing other provinces to the tune of $6 billion in historic deficits and borrowing. Maybe my colleague can explain how the HST helps seniors with affordability, because it is a tax that was put on consumers instead of the businesses to which it gave corporate tax cut reductions.

Could the party responsible for the GST and HST please explain how that has helped consumers by putting that debt on them versus the companies?

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Speaker, the reason we are in this situation today, with housing prices doubling, food prices doubling and Canadians unable to make ends meet, is because the NDP signed a coalition agreement to support spending, thereby creating the current situation with the Liberal government.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, listening thus far to the debate this morning has been interesting. As I indicated in my question, I am not surprised that the Conservatives have decided to take a path of playing that destructive force on the floor of the House of Commons. That is not new. The Conservative Party has been very much focused on doing that for years now, and it is unfortunate.

The Prime Minister indicated yesterday about the importance of listening to what Canadians were actually saying. Take a look at the questions that were being asked of the member, whether it was my question, or the Bloc question or NDP question. We will see that they were not necessarily directly on the report itself and concurrence in that report. Rather, they related to issues that Canadians would actually be concerned about at this point in time.

The Conservatives are masters at spin. They are masters at these single, simple messages. Even when the Prime Minister was the leader of the third party, they have consistently targeted character assassination as their first priority with respect to developing issues on the floor of the House of Commons.

We saw it yesterday, when there was the personal attack on the Minister of Finance. It is not the first time we have seen that. It happens time and again with the Conservatives.

Today, they want to talk about GC Strategies and the ArriveCAN app. For them, it is all about the issue of corruption and character assassination. Canadians, on the other hand, are having a challenging time in dealing with a wide spectrum of issues, issues that the government of the day has been addressing, in good part.

In introducing the motion, what was the first thing the member did? He talked about statistics coming from Statistics Canada and doing what the Conservatives do so well. They travel the country trying to convince people that Canada is broken when it is not broken. It is still the best country in the world to live, but we would not know that by listening to Conservatives. Every opportunity they get, the Conservatives are more focused on spreading misinformation. To their credit, they are being somewhat effective at doing that. The introducer of the motion talked about Statistics Canada and then tried to emphasize how Canada was broken. What he did not talk about was the report by Statistics Canada on the inflation rate.

The inflation rate is 2% today. Canadians are very much concerned about the inflation rate. I would compare Canada's performance to any other G7 or G20 over the last number of years, especially postpandemic. Even though we have done exceptionally well as a nation, Statistics Canada, the organization that the introducer of this motion brought forward, can reinforce these types of statistics. If we look at the inflation rate and interest rates, we are going in the right direction and it is having an impact. These are the types of issues that I think Canadians want us to talk about, but not the Conservatives, because they do not want to share their ideas. That is giving them credit, assuming they have some.

What were we supposed to be talking about today instead of ArriveCAN? The Citizenship Act. There are individuals in Canada, second-generation Canadians, who do not have their citizenship.

We will see that there are New Democrats, Bloc members and members of the Green Party who recognize that we need to pass this legislation. In fact, before the summer, a New Democrat stood in her place and made the suggestion that we pass each of the stages through unanimous consent, and yesterday, we tried to get it passed.

That is what we are supposed to be debating today, but we have come to learn, by listening to the debate yesterday, that the Conservatives have absolutely no intention whatsoever of passing that legislation. Even though a clear majority of members of the House have decided that this is good legislation that should pass, the Conservatives do not like it, and they do not want to be thrown off topic, so today they introduced a motion on the ArriveCAN issue.

They want to talk about ArriveCAN. ArriveCAN was there as a direct result of a worldwide pandemic. It was upon us. Actions were being taken by the government to support Canadians every day. Billions of dollars were being spent. The majority of that money was supported even by Conservative members, not to mention New Democrats, Bloc members and others, as Canada was coming together to ensure that the interests of Canadians were going to be served. As a House working in a co-operative fashion, we were able to make a difference. We brought forward programs that positioned Canada well, going into the postpandemic era.

We were there to support Canadians and their disposable income through programs such as CERB. We were there saving literally tens of thousands of jobs through the wage subsidy program. We were there to support small businesses through business loans. We were there to support our seniors through one-time payments and support individuals with disabilities with payments. We were there to support non-profit organizations to ensure that they could support Canadians at the grassroots level. We were there to support provinces, territories and indigenous people. As a national government, we were there in a very real and tangible way, and that meant we spent billions and billions of dollars.

Today I look at our independent AAA credit rating. Canada is still financially strong, and even during those difficult times and in the postpandemic, we still had the Conservatives taking the cheap shots with the character assassinations. I will give a couple of examples, including ArriveCAN. They say those Liberal friends got all these contracts. They are kind of right, in the sense that Conservatives got contracts, New Democrats got contracts and even some Bloc members got contracts, and when I say “Bloc”, I am not identifying the parties. I am talking about the individuals within those political parties. Yes, there were some individuals within the Liberal party. There are entrepreneurs, businesses and Canadians of all political parties who have dealings with the Government of Canada, but to try to give the false and misleading information that Liberals were given an advantage is just wrong.

They try to give impressions about ArriveCAN. I think about ArriveCAN. Let us focus a bit of attention specifically on ArriveCAN.

Anthony and Firth, between 2010 and 2015, were part of another small firm called Coredal, which was later amalgamated into GC Strategies. Coredal was awarded a number of contracts. Actually, one or more of these individuals received federal contracts from the Conservatives. Members can imagine that. The Conservatives gave contracts to at least one of the two individuals, possibly under a different name. They try to say that the Government of Canada said, “We want you”, when in fact it was done through the public service. There was a protocol in place.

The Auditor General actually found that the government has appropriate contracting rules in place, but in this situation, the rules were not followed. If the rules were not followed, then it begs this question: What was done in regards to it? The minister and the government took immediate action. There were audits, both internal and external, to deal with this issue. The minister and the government have been very clear. If there were abuses, as it appears there has been, there will be consequences to that. That is something that we would expect for anyone sitting in this chamber or any individual that we represent outside of this chamber. We do not condone in any way, in any fashion, inappropriate behaviour with respect to the procurement process. In fact, the Auditor General came back with a report. We have accepted the recommendations of the public auditor, whether they concern Canada border control, the CBSA; the Government of Canada; or the minister. However, the Conservatives say the government is bad.

One of the largest scandals that we have seen was the ETS scandal. That was a procurement scandal. There were direct links and indirect links to the Conservative government at the time. What did the Conservatives do? They avoided any sort of public accountability on the issue. They went out of their way to hide information connected to the ETS scandal. Do colleagues want to know about the ETS scandal? If they do a quick Google search, they will see the hundreds of millions of dollars at issue. While in government, whether it be the federal government or a provincial government, sometimes problems arise. Yes, at times getting the Auditor General or a provincial auditor is necessary because it is good for all concerned. The same principle applies here.

Here we have a situation that is concerning, not only to Conservative members. I would like to think that every member of the House of Commons is concerned about it, as I am. I want to ensure that there is a consequence for the inappropriate behaviour of individuals who inappropriately use tax dollars because I value those tax dollars, as I know my colleagues do. We recognize the true value of spending tax dollars to the benefit of Canadians. Let me cite a few examples.

There was a question put forward by the member for Kildonan—St. Paul to her colleague asking where the Conservatives would save money. His response was a little bit modest of where the Conservatives would be saving money. Let me talk about where the Conservatives are looking at saving money, based on the question that was being posed there, while understanding the value of a tax dollar and a progressive government that is here to make a difference.

We know there is the child care program that supports children every month. It is estimated that, every month, over $9 million goes into Winnipeg North alone because of the Canada child benefit. Imagine the impact that has on the local economy in Winnipeg North alone. It is something which we as a government established shortly after forming government in 2015.

Think of the progressive policies that we have been able to elevate and put into place, such as the dental care program. Where are the Conservatives with respect to the dental care program? Maybe that should have been the question that the member for Kildonan—St. Paul asked her colleague because I can say there are literally hundreds of thousands of Canadians who are very much interested in the Conservatives' actual position on the dental care program. We know that the Conservatives oppose it. Are they going to flip-flop with respect to it?

We hear often from constituents, and I can say that the number one concern that constituents raise with me, in my over 30 years of personal parliamentary history, is health care. Health care, in my books, is number one. As a government, we have spent those valuable tax dollars on things such as generational commitments to future health care. We are talking about $198 billion over 10 years. We are talking about bringing forward, in a gradual way, a national pharmacare program. We are talking about improving the standards of long-term care for our seniors.

I made reference to the dental program. When the member for Kildonan—St. Paul asks her colleague, in regard to this motion, where we can save money, and the member said that we can save it from the ArriveCan, I would suggest that is a bit of a flippant answer because what Canadians are more concerned about is the Conservative right-wing MAGA agenda for Canadians. That will come out in time. We will see that.

Instead, the Conservatives like to amp up the issue of character assassinations and spreading of misinformation. Here is a lovely quote. I am going to say something and members will be able to figure out who said it right away. The Conservative Party had a caucus meeting over the weekend, and their inspirational leader had this to say to the caucus—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, the members are feeling really excited because of the misinformation they have been spreading about the tax cut.

What did the leader of the Conservative Party have to say? He tried to paint this picture during a Sunday morning speech to his caucus, saying that “the Liberal government's plan to increase the price would cause a 'nuclear winter' for the economy.” He said “nuclear winter”. Get that. Wow. He said, “There would be mass hunger and malnutrition with a tax this high...our seniors would have to turn the heat down to 14 or 13 C just to make it through the winter”. He also said, “Inflation would run rampant and people would not be able to leave their homes or drive anywhere.”

What is he going to say next? Will he say that refugees are eating cats and dogs? Seriously, this is something that the leader of the Conservative Party today is saying, trying to scare Canadians. He is spreading misinformation consistently. I would welcome a debate anywhere in Canada with the leader of the Conservative Party because his ideas are so much out of this world that I do not think he would be able to stand his ground in front of any university grouping, and I would welcome that particular challenge. I appreciate being allowed to share those few thoughts.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Madam Speaker, I am a bit worried because the member seems to be the only one who is able to respond to very serious questions. We are debating concurrence on a report that has to do with the basic level of accountability that a government should be able to provide for the dollars it spends.

The dollars spent are not the government's money. They are hard-earned dollars paid by Canadians in the form of taxes. What does the member do? He is the only member who seems to be given permission by the PMO to be able to speak on that side. He seems to be able to say, with many words, very little. He talks about character assassinations. To assassinate character, someone has to have some.

We are looking for the basic levels of accountability that Canadians expect the government to have when it comes to spending. Does the member not find it concerning that time and time again, the government is plagued by scandals to the point where Canadians from coast to coast to coast are simply saying the government cannot be trusted with the public purse?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Madam Speaker, I am very content knowing about all the internal reviews and external reviews regarding the ArriveCAN issue. We always have to put it into the perspective, as I attempted to do, of the many things that the government was responsible for during the pandemic. That is not to say there was not any misspent money. The government is, in fact, ensuring that there is a consequence where tax dollars were abused. That is an absolute.

We continue to ensure that there is a high sense of accountability and transparency with every tax dollar. The real challenge we have found is that the Conservative Party is reluctant to discuss its ideas. It is just constantly attacking personalities, which I classify as character assassination.